Under Duress
by SophieLWalker
Summary: My first ever fanfic so please be kind. Zoe cant avoid Max forever no matter how hard she tries...
1. Chapter 1

Zoe's heels clicked as she walked across the chilly car park, carrying her bag under one arm she wrapped her coat further around her body. She really hated these cold mornings, the drop in temperature made getting up for work so much more painful; plus to make matters worse she had the lingering effects of a few too many glasses of red last night. Her already dry mouth and thumping head was now only exacerbated by the freezing air around her. She couldn't wait for the summer time to return, would be glad to see the back of a winter period that she would rather forget. She had thought her break from the ED a few months back would give her space and time to sort her head out, to prioritise what was important in her life, to become something more than just being a doctor. It did for a while, or at least it made things seem simpler. It had highlighted to her just how little of a life she had outside of her work and she had vowed to correct that. To be both a better doctor and a better Zoe, so far her attempts had failed miserably.

As much as she regretted it this morning, the comfort she got from emptying glass after glass the night before had been too good to resist after what had been particulate taxing day in the ED. In fact many of her shifts since New Year had been taxing, since she walked in on Max and that nurse. She had once again allowed a little of her personal life to slip into her professional life, and was disappointed in herself at how quickly she had allowed that to happen. She hovered instead of heading straight towards the sliding doors; she had a few minutes to spare with Holby's traffic having been kind to her this morning, so she discreetly finished the cigarette she had lit after leaving the car. This was another part of her "new life" that she already failed miserably at, but she couldn't picture herself as a non-smoker, didn't feel like a non-smoker and right at this point in her life having a cigarette was one of her very few small comforts.

Taking one final big drag before flicking the butt into a nearby ashtray she took a deep breath, straightened her dress and made towards the door, praying that this shift would go by without any major complications, she wasn't sure how well her head would cope today?

She pushed open the double doors to reveal an already busy waiting area. Instantly spotting Max chatting to yet another nurse in the corner she diverted her attention to the reception desk.

"Morning Zoe" Louise and Noel spoke in harmony.

Zoe smiled "Morning" she replied.

On seeing Zoe enter Max quickly ended his conversation with the clingy nurse and made his way towards her. "Dr Hanna" he called "could I have a quick word"

"Not now Max" she retorted sharply barely even looking at him. Aware that Noel and Louise may think her reaction slightly out of character she added "I'm busy with admin this morning, try and catch me later"

To avoid anyone thinking she was acting strangely she briefly raised her head to look at him as she spoke, a look that no one else would have thought anything of, but Max knew. He knew she wouldn't let him speak to her later, he tried to speak to her for days now to explain, but she didn't want to know. He so desperately wanted to see what she was thinking, to ask her why she came to see him the other day. He had spent most of Christmas convincing himself that she wanted nothing more to do with him, that the had to move on. But her coming to see him had confused things. Know he didn't know what she was thinking, didn't know what to do. All the while she wouldn't talk to him there was nothing he could do. He watched as she grabbed some files from the desk and headed to her office.

"Morning" Zoe spoke as she entered the room she shared with the now clinical lead. She examined the woman sat at the desk opposite her, her eyes tired like that hadn't slept in weeks, her thin frame seeming more skeletal than ever and her skin pale with a glint of clamminess. "You look worse than I feel" she continued as she removed her coat and began searching through her bag for the paracetamol she hoped would rid her of this niggling headache, which now seemed worse after seeing Max.

"I'm not in the mood for small talk" Connie sneered back, instantly regretting not being more pleasant. Relations between Zoe and herself had been thawing recently, she didn't want set everything back to square one. As proud as she was she knew deep down that she needed people like Zoe on her side, especially now she had lost Grace.

"Sorry I just didn't sleep well, It's not your fault I shouldn't have snapped" Connie quickly added feigning a smile.

"Don't worry about it, I didn't have the best night myself and I have at least an hours' worth of admin to catch up on plus a headache from hell" Zoe paused for a moment then quietly added "if there is anything I can do to help...just ask" offering a discreet smile. She knew how much pressure being Clinical Lead could bring, on top of losing her daughter she could imagine just how stressed her former enemy was.

"I'm fine but thanks" Connie replied turning her attention to another email.

With neither being on good form, they seemed to have a mutual need to quietly get their heads down and absorb themselves in their work. They respected each other's needs and worked quietly barely uttering a word for the next hour.


	2. Chapter 2

Within an hour of being the in ED Zoe was sufficiently busied to distract herself from her own thoughts, that was another thing she loved about her job, she didn't have time to think about herself. For 10 hours of the day she became wrapped up in other people's problems and no matter what was happening in her own personal life she felt protected by this ED shaped bubble. A bubble in which other people's suffering seemed to pale her worries into insignificance, a bubble in which she was the professional, the person that fixes things, the person at was needed to help people put their lives back together when they were at their most vulnerable. It was when she left that bubble that it became harder to quash her thoughts. Thoughts of her future, or lack of a future as she saw it. Yes she loved her job but since her break from the ED she couldn't shake the feeling of emptiness when she left the ED doors, even living with Dylan she often felt lonely.

That was the most mortifying thing about what had happened the other day, she had finally let her guard down, finally realised that she deserved to be happy and that she wanted to be with Max just to discover he'd moved onto someone else. Now combined with complete humiliation was this niggling regret that she had missed her chance of being happy.

"Anywhere nice?" Tess startled Zoe who had unknowingly drifted into a daze whilst reviewing some bloods on the computer.

"Sorry" Zoe replied looking confused.

"You looked like you were a million miles away, just wondered whether it was anywhere nice...or with anyone nice? Tess grinned. She had suspected recently that Zoe might be involved with someone but she didn't really have a lot to go on.

"Sorry was just in a world of my own, thinking about something Connie said earlier" Zoe lied whilst attempting to busy herself with the computer in front of her. She could tell Tess felt she was onto something, this wasn't the first reference she had made to Zoe being involved with someone in the past few days but Zoe really didn't feel like talking about it.

Tess' face as she listened to Zoe said it all, she wasn't buying it. "You don't get away that easily, there is no way you would be that absorbed in something Connie had said" Tess said matter-of-factly. "now come on...spill" she pushed.

The doors of the ED burst open and Robyn pushed through, scanning the department and fixing her eyes on the first doctor she saw.

"Dr Hanna" interrupted Robyn, much to Zoe's relief. "We need your help Max has found a young boy in the car park, he's been knocked down." Robyn continued with urgency in her voice.

Zoe instantly snapped into doctor mode. "Ok Robyn, grab the trauma bag and a paediatric spinal board, Tess prep peads resus and be ready at the doors in case." Zoe ordered whilst making her way towards the exit of the ED. She held her stethoscope close to her chest as she jogged across the car park, the heels she had selected that morning not the most ideal for running. She turned the corner and could see Max ahead of her knelt hovering over a boy who could not have been older than 6, he was so small.

The boy was clearly distressed, lying flat on his back, the closer Zoe became the clearer she could hear the young lads quiet sobs. Max was knelt at the boys head, his hands gently supporting it either side of his small face. As she approached she could hear Max talking to the young lad, talking some rubbish about Spider-Man obviously in an attempt to keep the poor boy calm.

Max looked up as Zoe approached, Zoe could see the fear in his eyes, Max had all the confidence in the world when it came to talking to people, women in particular. Medical emergencies however weren't really his thing, he hated not knowing what to do, felt completely out of his depth, scared even.

"See Ryan, this is my friend Zoe. She is a doctor and she is going to help you and make you feel all better" Max spoke calmly to the small boy managing to plaster a friendly smile on his face despite his obvious fear.

"What happened" Zoe questioned as she arrived, closely followed by Robyn who immediately took over from Max in supporting Ryan's head.

Max gratefully stepped back to let the experts do their jobs rubbing his shoulder in an attempt to ease the stress of the situation.

"I was having a fag and was watching Ryan kicking his football against the wall when some lunatic just came speeding through and..." Max trailed off, swallowing the lump that had appeared in his throat, clearly upset by what he had seen. "and then he drove off" Max continued. "He's got some cuts but i don't think their bleeding too badly and he says his ankle and his upper back hurt so I just tried to hold him still, I didn't know what to do" Max said hopelessly, still gripping his shoulder but now pacing a little up and down.

Zoe look up at him and half smiled. She may have tried to avoid him all day, all week in fact but as a doctor she couldn't deny he had done well in what must have been a difficult situation. "you did the right thing Max" Zoe quickly reassured him before continuing to check Ryan over and helping Robyn to get him onto a spinal board.

Max fetched a trolley and helped to get Ryan into the ED, he let Zoe and the others take him into resus knowing it would be best to give them space to work. He watched through the glass doors, his brain trying to process what had just happened.

15 minutes later, Robyn came to get Max. "Ryan's going to be ok Max, they've cleared his neck and back but he needs to go for an x-ray on his leg as its likely its badly broken. We haven't managed to get hold of hid parents yet and he's still a bit upset and in pain, he says he won't go to xray without you Max, will you take him?"

"Sure" Max replied, slightly surprised that the small freckle faced lad had asked for him.

As Max entered resus he saw that Ryan already looked much better, he was sat up with his leg held in a temporary splint. "Max!" Ryan grinned as he saw the young porter walk in.

"How are you feeling champ?" Max questioned whilst gently ruffling the boys mousey brown hair. "We need to take you to get some special pictures of your leg, are you gonna come with me." Max encouraged.

Ryan didn't speak and looked unsure so Max attempted to make it more appealing. He pulled 2 rolled comics from his back pocket and flashed them in front of Ryan. "I'll tell you what, you let me take you to get your pictures taken and ill let you read my limited edition, never seen before Spider-Man comics" Max bargained knowing from their earlier small talk that Ryan was a huge Spider-Man fan.

"Ok" Ryan agreed. Letting Max take the brakes off the trolley and wheeling him towards the lift. Zoe smiled to herself as she was quietly observing, completing her paperwork in the corner or resus. It annoyed her that even through she didn't want to see him, talk to him even, he could still make her smile by just being himself.

Tess' voice interrupted her thoughts for the second time that day. "Don't think your getting off the hook that easily"

"Sorry" Zoe replied acting as if she had not idea what Tess was talking about"

"Earlier...you were about to tell me about your new man" Tess smiled

"It's ok you can bring me fully up to date over a drink after shift...see you outside in an hour" Tess stated whilst walking away, not giving Zoe a chance to reply or protest.


End file.
